Salloways

We arrived in Canada to lovely warm weather and a surprisingly very quiet airport, especially compared to LAX. After collecting our hire car we drove along the scenic roads up to Banff in the mountains where we were staying. Our log cabin was really nice and the owners were lovely, giving us all the information we needed. We headed out for some food before finally getting some well needed sleep before being up early the next day! On Sunday we went white water rafting which I found horrifically scary!!! We were well prepared and were geared up in a wetsuit, fleeces, water shoes, a life jacket and a rain coat. However this didn't at all put me at east. The first section of the rapids we went on was named the 'gentle ride', which Mum and ... read more

'Mam I work for the US government, when I say here I mean the United States of America'. This was the reply from the security at LAX after mum had asked whether he meant: had we been to our hotel before OR had we been to the US in general before. We knew the wait was going to be rather long when we arrived at LAX and unfortunately the flight from Japan had arrived just before us which meant the queues were full of extremely slow Japanese! However we eventually got through after giving our finger prints and having our photos taken, then got a taxi to our hotel. Driving through Hollywood was really good and our taxi driver was very friendly, he even gave us the holy book from his religion because we were 'nice ... read more

Just a quick update on the rest of our time in Fiji really. Even though we’ve spent another 3 days here since the last blog there’s not overly much we have to add! Apart from relaxing, chilling and unwinding, we’ve had a pretty uneventful week, which to be fair was very much needed. During our time here we’ve met lots of lovely people, who we have given rather well thought out names. These include Mr and Mrs Liverpool, Mr and Mrs Adelaide (who have invited us to stay at their house next Christmas...), Mr and Mrs Sydney, Mr and Mrs New Zealand and finally, Mrs Yoga. They we’re all amazing people, apart from Mrs Yoga who just appeared to want our room when we left and did yoga in the road every morning... After just 1 ... read more

We arrived in Fiji late afternoon on Thursday and were greeted at the airport by many very friendly Fijians and each got a shell necklace! After a rather long transfer we arrived at our hotel late evening and as we arrived, 3 Fijian men played their guitars and sang a nice welcome song for us!! We were shown to our rooms and had our cases carried up to our rooms too. We had our tea in the hotel restaurant which was lovely and then after our usual card game of nomination trumps, we got some well needed sleep. Friday turned out to be a rather cloudy day so we paid for a tour around parts of Fiji. Our taxi driver was called Alvin (Alveen) and loved the fact their was a film called Alvin and the ... read more

Today was our final full day in both Melbourne and Australia, and I reckon everyone would admit it was a fantastic send off. After a late start (a lot of faffing about and waiting for George to get his hair cut) we eventually set off around midday for a long drive along the coast. We were heading for Ramsey Street, which, as had to be explained to me, is the street where Neighbours is filmed. Much to everyone’s disappointment however, they were in the process of filming when we arrived! So all we could see down the blocked off street was some purple car pulling in and out of a drive way multiple times! The security at the entrance of the road informed us that they should be done in around 45 minutes and to come ... read more

It was 5am when we had to get up for the flight the Ayers Rock, not a time anybody can say they enjoy being up at! The lack of sleep was clearly getting to Sophie as 5 minutes after we took off from Cairns airport she looked down and asked Mum whether the land we were over was still in Australia, bless her. When we arrived at Ayers Rock airport 3 hours later the first thing everybody noticed was the smell! Stepping off the plane was a huge shock as the air smells so different to anywhere we’ve ever been before, it was weird! After a drive to check out our resort, we went straight to look around the Olga Mountains for a while. They were pretty good, but nobody could really be bothered with ... read more

I don't think anyone could have asked for a better birthday than George! It was an early start but we were picked up by the Ocean Safari bus at 8.15am to be taken to the beach where we were being picked up by the Ocean Safari boat to get to the great barrier reef for our snorkling trip! At the reception, they knew it was George's birthday so he got a free cap and wet suit! Luckily as Matt and I were students, we also got free wet suits and Mum and Dad were advised to hire one as the sea wasn't too warm. On the boat me, Matt and George sat at the front where we were told that the sea was 'quite' choppy today. Well the ride to the reef was better than any ... read more

Hello again!! We stayed in Cape Tribulation, which is where the jungle is, for two nights. We were originally supposed to be staying in tents in Jungle Lodge but 'unfortunately' these were closed for the season so we ended up being upgraded to lodges which we were quite happy about. The resort had a pool, restaurant and shop with other lodges and hotels nearby. This was supposed to be an area full of cassowarys, however we didn't see any and just saw lots of cassowary signs instead! Looks like the only one we will see is the one we saw at the zoo! To be honest I don't think any of us would be too keen on seeing a cassowary up close in the wild!! On our way, we stopped at Mossman Gorge for a walk ... read more